Rehab debate rages on

Norwich Union's claim that its physiotherapy program has saved the company £1.5m in treatment costs over the last year has again fuelled the rehabilitation debate.

This month marks the one-year anniversary of NU’s rehab partnership with two clinics, following the success of its two-year pilot with Rehabilitation UK.

NU claims 10,000 people have undergone the treatment, saving the company about £150 per case in cost of treatment.

Although NU’s results mirror the findings by some other insurers, it flies in the face of companies such as Fortis that claims rehabilitation for minor whiplash cases actually drives up the cost and duration of settlement.

In June 2004, AIG Europe’s claim review of 30,000 whiplash cases showed a reduction in claims costs of 20% when rehab was applied.

AXA has said damages are usually less when rehab is involved because it gets the client back to work faster and helps with pain and suffering.

On the other hand, research conducted by Fortis that studied 1,000 minor whiplash cases showed that when the victim underwent physiotherapy, the length of claim settlement actually grew from 259 days to 275 days and the cost increased by £135 per case.

Fortis is carrying out a second study of 500 cases to confirm the findings of its initial research.

Allianz also said it found little cost benefit from using the treatment as the medico-legal reports did not “reflect the intervention.”

Regardless of the various studies, most in the industry would agree what is needed is a greater form of streamlined empirical data to be collected on the benefits of rehabilitation.

Currently there is no industry body overseeing the issue and therefore insurers have taken it upon themselves to conduct individual studies and the findings often conflict with one another.

Greater scientific understanding of rehabilitation and the impact for insurers would be of obvious benefit to the industry as a whole and could possibly lead to government regulation of treatment for victims.